Thursday, March 13, 2014

Musings On Iraq Security Report March 1-7, 2014

The first week of March 2014 was the bloodiest of 2014.
There were 412 reported deaths and 702 wounded. Most of those occurred in
Baghdad and Salahaddin. Fighting also picked up in Anbar, while there was a
slew of car bombings in Babil. At the same time there was a large drop in
violence in Ninewa and scattered attacks in the south. The large number of
bombings for the week was the main cause of the increase in casualties. This
was just the latest sign that security is getting worse in Iraq.

From March 1-7 there were 252 security incidents. That led
to 412 deaths and 702 wounded. 277 of the fatalities were civilians compared to
115 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and 20 members of the Sahwa. 534
civilians were wounded along with 146 of the ISF and 22 of the Sahwa. Bombings,
143 total, were the main form of attack. That included 21 car bombs and 11
suicide bombers. The former are the main cause of mass casualty attacks in Iraq
and is the main reason why casualties were so high. The week surpassed the
previous high for 2014, which was the second week of January that saw 372 dead
and 683 wounded.

Reported Violence In
Iraq By Week 2014

Jan

1-7

Jan

8-14

Jan

15-21

Jan

22-28

Feb

1-7

Feb

8-14

Feb

15-21

Feb

22-28

Mar

1-7

Incidents

245

285

202

240

204

227

265

251

252

Dead

363

372

358

308

296

255

347

374

412

Wounded

736

683

597

624

700

501

696

615

702

Reported Violence In
Iraq By Province Mar. 1-7, 2014

Attacks

Deaths

Wounded

Anbar

57

83

108

Babil

9

23

46

Baghdad

70

118

288

Basra

1

1

0

Dhi Qar

1

1

0

Diyala

15

19

32

Ninewa

35

31

52

Salahaddin

45

125

134

Tamim

18

11

41

Wasit

1

0

1

For a change, Salahaddin not Baghdad was the deadliest
province at the start of March. There were 45 incidents there leading to 125
killed and 134 wounded. Insurgents hit a variety of targets with Tikrit seeing
9 attacks, Shirqat 8, Samarra 6, Tuz Kharmato 6, Baiji and Sulaiman Bek four
each, Balad 2, Yathrib 2, along with three other smaller towns. March 4 was the
worst day when likely Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) fighters stormed
the city
council building in Samarra
using five suicide bombers. The militants were able to hold the building for
several hours before it was cleared by the security forces. The results were 73 dead and 50 wounded. This
was just the latest well planned assault by ISIS on government facilities,
which has become a trademark of the organization. For the rest of the week
attacks usually consisted of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) 30 total,
shootings, 21, and sticky bombs, 4. Salahaddin has been the main province where
militants have picked up their operations since fighting started in Anbar at
the very end of December.

Baghdad was next with 70 attacks resulting in 118 killed and
288 wounded. The week saw the start of the latest car bomb wave by ISIS. The
last wave ended on February
18 when there were 4 car bombs in the capital province. March 5 there were
four car bombs in Shaab,
Shula,
Sadr
City, and Karrada. The
results were 12 dead and 49 wounded. The next day bombs went off in Meshahda,
Amil,
Nahda,
Karrada,
and Ghaziliya
with 21 killed and 67 injured. Finally there was a single car bomb on March 7
in Ghaziliya
again aimed at a politician. For the week Tarmiya, which is to the north of the
capital was the top target with 8 attacks, followed by 7 in western Baghdad’s Ghaziliya
with 7, and Abu Ghraib and Sadr City with four each. There were a total of 28
reported IEDs, 20 shootings, 10 car bombs, 9 sticky bombs, a suicide bomber, a
kidnapping, a stabbing, and one mortar attack.

Anbar saw a jump in violence in the beginning of March. The
number of attacks remained relatively the same from 55 in the last week of
February to 57 in the first week of March. There were simply more people killed
in the fighting between insurgents and the ISF, and continued deaths from
government shelling. In total there were 83 deaths and 108 wounded compared to
45 killed and 138 wounded the previous week. The press reported casualties from
ISF artillery and mortar fire and air attacks on March 1
in Saqlawiya, March 2
in Fallujah
and Amiriya
Fallujah, March 3 in Fallujah,
March 4 in Habaniya
and outside
Fallujah, March 5 in Fallujah
and the road
from Ramadi to Habaniya, and March 6 and 7 in Fallujah.
In total 31 were killed and 78 wounded. All but one day there was also fighting
with insurgents. March 1 for example there was gunfire with militants in east Ramadi,
Sajar,
Albu
Jassim, Albu
Diab, and Albu Shaban. Despite government statements that Ramadi was
relatively safe and only Fallujah was a problem, the former accounted for the
most incidents at 18 for the week, followed by 8 in Fallujah. The conflict
continued in the surrounding areas as well.

Ninewa went the other way for the week. There were 35
reported incidents compared to 52 the week before. There were just 31 killed
and 52 wounded down from 78 deaths and 75 injured in the last week of February.
There was even one day, March 5 when there were no fatalities and only four
wounded. For years now Ninewa, and specifically Mosul and the surrounding area
has seen low level targeted violence as ISIS has established their control
their and used it as their main financial base in Iraq.

Diyala and Tamim remain largely out of the fight. In Diyala
there were 15 attacks, 19 killed and 32 wounded, while in Tamim there were 18
incidents, 11 deaths and 41 injured. Those were largely in line with figures
for the rest of the year.

Babil saw one very violent day. On March 6 four car bombs
were detonated in the governorate targeting Hillah and
Iskandariya with 17 dead and 38 wounded. Babil has seen some intense
fighting in recent weeks. The northern section of the province has become an
ISIS base. In February there were set battles as the ISF launched an
unsuccessful operation to clear parts of the province. In March the Islamic
State struck back hitting the major urban centers. The growing instability in
the province led Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to dismiss
the provincial police chief in the beginning of March.

Southern Iraq remained rather quiet. There was one shooting
in Basra
killing a former mayor and a car bomb in Wasit
that only wounded one on March 6, and then a body was found dumped in Dhi Qar’s
Nasiriyah on March
7. Since ISIS stopped its monthly car bombings in December 2013 the region
has stayed relatively safe. Every now and then there is an isolated act of
violence, but vast majority of the population has been able to live their lives.
That was shown in the start of March when Karbala, Maysan, Muthanna, Najaf, and
Qadisiyah had no reported attacks.

6 comments:

Nicasso
said...

Hi Joel,

I have been reading your blog for a few months now and it is good stuff, you clearly have a passion for all things Iraq! Just a quick note from one who also monitors the security scene in Iraq. You state that:'On March 6 four car bombs were detonated in the governorate targeting Hillah, Iskandariya, and Alexandria with 17 dead and 42 wounded'. Iskandariya and Alexandria are one and the same. I have come across this and similar confusions in some of your listed media sources. For example...car bomb kills 10 in Baghdad al Jadeeda...and then the journalist not realising that this IS New Baghdad and recording another 10 deaths during a car bomb attack in New Baghdad. This might lead you to inadvertently inflate the number of incidents / deaths.

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About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com